As the world was rejoicing yesterday with the rescue of 14 military hostages in Colombia, after the Colombian forces trick the rebels into releasing them including three US hostages and French-Colombian former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, I was thinking how impressive their military intelligence is and how unbelievable is the fact that they didn’t even fire one single shot.
Also I realize that Costa Rica does not have an army at all, they have police forces and highway patrols but no army or soldiers or even marines, nothing; and apparently they haven’t had one since 1948 when former President Jose Figures Ferrer abolished it. I hadn’t notice this until I heard some locals commenting about the military in Colombia and most of them were not so familiar with the way military forces work or anything. In Costa Rica, they have a very peaceful way of dealing with things, so they just don’t need an army.
15 hostages released by the Colombian Army
It is quite interesting how this way of living gets into your skin once you have a while here. I hadn’t realize that in Costa Rica, people are very laid back and mostly calmed, in Guanacaste, everyone is so easy going that you totally forget about how hectic living in the US is. Even, San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital, with all the insane traffic and cosmopolitan lifestyle is quite different than any big city in America. That made me realized why is that so many immigrants want to come here and why there are so many Costa Rica real estate sites everywhere: people are looking for this kind of peace and that is just undeniable.
My salute goes today for both: To Costa Rica: An amazing country that has given me and my family a place we call home; and to Colombia: A place where fighting for peace is actually fighting peacefully. I do hope that the three US hostages are already home and finally celebrating with their families and that every effort they make to continue eradicating all of this madness ends as successfully as this mission.
